


Every Other Freckle

by napenthusiast



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Break Up, Falling In Love, Feelings, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Getting Back Together, M/M, Outer Space, POV Keith (Voltron), POV Lance (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron) is Missing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 21:36:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14481681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/napenthusiast/pseuds/napenthusiast
Summary: A story told through moments of Keith and Lance coming together, breaking apart, and attempting to right their wrongs.~~~Lance slowly turned to Keith, eyes never opening completely, instead staying half lidded. He looked like so much more than a boy in a cargo jacket then, he looked like he belonged to the cosmos, an ethereal creature that had captured Keith's heart, and didn't plan on returning it anytime soon.





	Every Other Freckle

Keith was terrified.  
\--  
He was scared of how happy the Cuban boy with freckles on the ridge of his nose made him. The tiny pigmented dots so small that you wouldn't notice them unless you had your forehead pressed against his, like Keith had so many times before. Keith was scared of the way his heart stuttered when he watched the tanned boys smile shoot upwards into a laugh, his canines exceptionally pointy, the same ones that caused his lips to bleed and left marks on Keiths neck when the boys pearly whites came into contact with his marble skin. Keith was scared of how in love he was with Lance.  
\--  
Keith loved Lance. That is the lie he tries to tell himself, but the truth is that Keith loves Lance, he has a feeling he always will. And that's the problem because he will love Lance forever, but he broke him and people are not supposed to break the things they love. 

~~~

The first time Keith saw Lance was at the Garrison. In the beginning Keith didn't register the loud boy that asked to many questions as a person, he just found the excessive noise a nuisance. But as time went on, he realized the statements and questions held meaning to them. The boy was asking the questions everyone wanted the answers to. The ones they were voicing to themselves, but were too scared to ask. Lance was never too scared to ask questions. Soon Keith began to migrate his position in the lecture hall towards the area where said loudmouth sat with his friend. It was slow work, social interaction was never a strong suit for Keith, but eventually he was sitting close enough to the boy to learn his and his acquaintances name, Lance, and Hunk. The first time he heard Lances name he was pleasantly surprised, it rolled off his tongue easily, and he mouthed the name to himself a few times before clenching his jaw, berated himself for being a stalker, and resumed listening to Iversons lecture on how to enter coordinates for the simulator. The teachers always sighed and gave Lance sour looks when his hand rose into the air, like he was obviously not listening to anything they said (even though no one knew what was going on half the time, and Lance was actually quite smart, if the way he worded his questions were anything to go by) before answering his question and in turn teaching the entire class something essential they probably would have missed. Keith always listened intently to each question the boy asked, astonished at how similar the ones he had formulated in his own mind were to the ones that Lance vocalized.

~~~

“Do you love me Keith?” 

Lance was never too scared to ask questions. But this Lance was not the one he saw everyday in class, speaking his enquiries with gusto, hand flying upwards, long limb leisurely reaching into the sky. This Lance was broken, face tear stained, and still hopelessly beautiful, his freckles seemingly glinting in the moonlight as the two boys stood on the roof of the Garrison. This Lance asked his question in a whisper, a tiny breathy thing that Keith had to lean in close to hear. So close he could smell the nicotine on Lances breath from the smoke he had earlier while waiting for him to show up. Keith was scared to open his mouth because of what he knew would come out. 

Always. 

But Keith didn't let the word Lance needed to hear slip through his lips. He turned away and when he looked back, Lance had been broken, standing in the cool air of Arizona's night sky, his body hadn't changed, he was still the beautiful Cuban boy that stole Keith's heart, but Keith saw that he was broken, shattered, and it was all his fault. He almost regretted looking back. Almost. 

~~~

The first time the two boys actually spoke was because of Shiro. Lance was staring at the upperclassman with wide eyes, to scared to approach the legendary spaceman, admiring his “awesomeness” as the boy himself so eloquently stated. The previously unmentioned part was that Lance was observing the stoic man in the middle of the hallway, standing statue still in a crowded crossways of teenagers with places to go. Keith, unsurprisingly, had his headphones in because they helped him walk through the crowded halls. This led him to be looking down at his phone to change the song into something more upbeat, so Keith did not see the seemingly paralyzed boy as he turned the corner, immediately slamming into him with as much force as a kid walking to class could emit. Incidentally, it was enough force for both of the boys to fall over onto the floor, notes spilling out of Keiths bag, and Lances notebook to be thrown out of his hands like they were in cliche a 90’s movie. 

“Dios mio, what the fuck” 

“Im sorry. I didn't see you”, Keith said as he was shaking off the daze from the fall and began to look at the boy he crashed into. It was question boy, Lance. 

“Uh yeah thats me.” 

Shit he said that out loud. 

“Do I know you?” Lance asked as he dusted off his knees and scanned the floor for his notebook. Students were still streaming past the two boys, weaving around them like a rock in the rapids of a river. 

“Oh. Um no probably not, we share Iversons class and I've heard you ask some good questions. I’m Keith. Keith Kogane.” 

At this Lances face flew up in recognition, “Keith Kogane? As in, best flight simulation scores Keith Kogane?” 

“Erm. I guess? But I prefer just Keith.” 

This lit up Lances face even more, a tiny smile escaping his lips, teeth flashing as white as ever, “Alright then, Just Keith. Lets go to class, Iverson will have my ass if I get in late and ask questions on the new chemically combusted rockets” 

“Ok”, Keith said as he gathered up the stragglers of his notes, shoving them into his side bag with little eloquence. It was this simple, crashcourse meeting, that brang the two together. 

~~~

The first time Keith realized he wanted Lance to be more than just his friend was at a McDonalds. There was one near the Garrison (and by near it was actually 35 miles of rocky desert roads away) and it was a weekend so the boys thought they might as well go out and eat something that was not cafeteria food. With the thought of a horribly unhealthy burger in his mind Keith hopped into the back of Hunks Jeep and secretly smiled at Lances enthusiasm of having the aux cord while sitting shotgun.  
\--  
“Lance, I highly doubt you can eat that many french fries in one sitting” 

“Oh yeah? Watch me Mullet. Im gonna eat these fries and no one's here to stop me” 

At this Hunk looked up from his phone, apparently there was a new article up on his favorite cooking blog.

“Lance, buddy, I will stop you. The last time you ate that many fries you bitched about it for four hours. You also stated ‘Hunk never let me eat that many fries ever again’ so I will be the mom friend and stop you.” 

Lance just pouted. With his shiny blue eyes glinting with appreciation at the thoughtfulness his best friend displayed. 

“Ok fine, but we will not be wasting these fries, I already drowned them in ketchup. Keith, we are now in this together.” 

“Why was I dragged into this? You're the one who got to many fries.” 

“Proximity.”

“Hunk is literally sitting right next to you.” 

“Point taken,” at this Lance pretended to rub his chin thoughtfully, “If not proximity then it is my unyielding desire to watch you stuff your face with french fries. You got me” 

“Uh huh, I see. Well I can’t deprive you of that now can I?” Keith chided while his hand darted towards the fries to grab a fistfull of the salty treat before unceremoniously shoving them in his mouth. 

Lance just sat there with wide eyes shimmering before breaking out into a fit of laughter that Hunk had to shush because people were starting to stare. 

After his laughing had subsided Lance looked up across the table to Keith, who unknowingly had ketchup on the tip of his nose from his earlier french fry extravaganza. “Oh my god Keith I am so glad you're our friend.” 

Keith's heart did a little pitter patter in his chest. These people he met a few months earlier let him into their life and become a peice of it. He was slow to open up, but by now Hunk had already cried over How to Train Your Dragon four times in front of him. And Lance, well Keith and Lance went out to the roof of the Garrison to stargaze, lying on their backs looking up only to turn their heads to catch a glimpse of the other. But when both their eyes meet and indago flashes bright against ocean blue, they snap their heads back and don't say a thing. He had a feeling that ‘friends’ don't typically do that.

~~~

Shiro was gone and Keith felt helpless. The man that he trusted with his whole heart had disappeared and been lost to space, the one thing Keith had always admired the most. Keith thought it was funny the way that the things you loved could hurt you the most. Space was where Keith would go when his foster families were yelling and screaming, throwing bottles and punching walls, he would open a book about the galaxies and get lost in the swirls and dips of the stars. Space was what got Keith through his first few high school years, getting taunted at and sneered at by cruel people who didn't like that he kissed boys and had his ears pierced, he put in his headphones and listened to lectures about wormholes and supernovas. Space is what brought Shiro to him, a recruiter for the Garrison, meeting with students who he thought had real potential to be sent into the cosmos.  
\--  
“Your grades are phenomenal Keith and the scores of the specialty tests you took in astrophysics and cosmology are impressive, what are you planning on doing when you graduate?” 

“Um. I'm not really sure. I don't really have any money so I'll probably get a job and save up for school one day,” Keith hated being pitied about being a poor foster kid, let alone by some big buff guy that was asking personal questions about his future, but he had a feeling this man would know if he was lying, so he told the truth. 

“Have you ever heard of the Garrison?” the man replied, eyes unchanging as if Keith not having money did not make him think differently of him. 

“The what?” 

“I'll take that as a no. The Garrison is a school for people who want to go to space…” 

And after that conversation, Keith was sending in his applications, applying for financial aid, writing essays for every scholarship available, and keeping in contact with Shiro because damn it Keith loved space with every fiber of his being. 

But space took away Shiro. Shiro was the only person who gave Keith an opportunity to be one step closer to his dreams of interstellar exploration, and then he was gone.

~~~

The first time Keith and Lance kissed they were on the edge of a cliff.  
\--  
It was a cloudless night, like many were in the Arizona desert, and Lance woke Keith up from a fitful slumber by throwing a rock at his dorm window. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Keith hissed at said culprit as he stuck his head out of the window, “people could have heard that and you would have gotten in trouble.” 

“Sorry Mr. Goody-Goody, I just really wanted to recreate a Taylor Swift song. It is pretty cold out here.” 

“I have absolutely no idea what you mean by that but what do you want?”

At this Lance threw his hands out in a flourish, mouth splitting into a large grin, “Come out here, it's a nice night. Let's explore!”

“There's practically nothing but desert for miles and miles.” 

“Well maybe we'll find an interesting rock,” he deadpanned, “C'mon Keith, live a little.” His ocean blue eyes twinkled at his statement, a sly smirk appearing on his face as he looked Keith dead in the eyes. 

And that was when Keith gave in. With a huff he shoved on a pair of pants, grabbed his jacket, and slipped a leg out of his window. 

“This rock better be the best fucking rock in all the deserts of Arizona.”

Lance just smiled, and Keith couldn't help but think that his freckles dotted his face like a constellation lost in the cosmos.  
\--  
They escaped under the gate that the Garrison had, Lance apparently knowing all the good ways to sneak out to have a smoke. 

“Why'd you start smoking anyway?” 

“You better not go all Hunk on me and attempt to make me stop. I know my actions have consequences and all that bullshit.” he said as they made their way deeper into the desert, heading towards nowhere and everywhere all at once.

“I was just curious.” Keith was not about to mention that the way Lance looked surrounded by smoke and a glowing cigarette in hand lit up his own abdomen up with desire. 

“Oh, I dunno really. Just something to do with the time I guess.” 

Keith just hummed in reply, brushing hands with the tanned boy as they walked deeper into the wild. After a while, Lance shot a quick glance towards Keith and then clasped their hands fully together. Keith said nothing, he just bowed his head as heat crept up his cheeks like a fucking 7th grader and squeezed Lances hand back as a response. 

“Hey Lance,” Keith began after they had been walking for an indefinable amount of time, “look at that rock over there.” 

Lance turned to him smiling once again, “Could it maybe be the ‘best fucking rock in all the deserts of Arizona’?” 

“It could very possibly be that, but we'll never know if we don't check it out.” 

“Well then we most definitely have to.” 

Because Lance had the maturity of a child, and insisted that he was faster than Keith, the two raced towards the large rock that sat at the very edge of a huge canyon. They both scrambled up on top of it and sat shoulder to shoulder, out of breath. Neither of them knew who had won, but neither of them particularly cared. Instead, they just regulated their breathing and stared at the stars like they had done before on the roof of the Garrison. 

But this was different. Here they were completely alone, no lights to pollute the sky, just the soft glow of the moon to make Lances freckles even more distracting than usual. Here they didn't have to worry about security catching them, here they could relax and breath easy. 

Keith admired the way the Cuban boy looked so at ease. He studied his beautiful profile, the way his eyes fluttered closed and the tendons in his neck pulled taught as he leaned his head back to bask in the starlight. 

Lance slowly turned to Keith, eyes never opening completely, instead staying half lidded. He looked like so much more than a boy in a cargo jacket then, he looked like he belonged to the cosmos, an ethereal creature that had captured Keith's heart, and didn't plan on returning it anytime soon. 

Finally Lance spoke, “Can I kiss you?” 

Lance was never afraid to ask questions.

Keith only had breath for a simple ‘yes’ before his lips were captured by Lances. 

The kiss was something Keith will remember forever, slow and languid, a little sloppy because once Keith realized what was happening his mouth broke out into a wide grin that made their teeth clash and saliva catch on the corners of their mouths. It wasn't a long kiss, just long enough for Keith to inhale the soft scent of smoke on Lances tongue and open his eyes to come face to face with the freckles he was so obsessive over. They pulled away slowly, Lances eyes blinking open and meeting Keith's with a gentle intensity that Keith never wanted to look away from. 

Catching his breath Keith opened his mouth to say, “You were never afraid to ask questions.” 

Leaning in close Lance responded quietly, “I only ask the important ones.” 

Lance closed the short distance between their lips and they were together again, learning how to emit soft gasps and breathless moans from the other through the simple touch of tongues and lips.

~~~ 

“I have to leave.”

“No Keith, you want to leave.” 

They were on the roof of the Garrison, a meeting like many before, with a soft blanket strewn out on the concrete, the two boys lying shoulder to shoulder, hands rubbing circles into the palms of the others. 

~~~

The first time Keith realized he was in love with Lance, he was outside of the Cuban boys dorm window. Looking back on it now, Keith had probably loved Lance for a long time before this sudden realization, but the moment was surprising and raw to him nonetheless.  
\--  
“We should sneak out again.”

“We really shouldn't.” 

“Yeah but you want to.” 

Keith stayed silent and buried his head back into his book, not wanting to verbally agree with Lance and inflate his already large enough ego. 

“Oh man you definitely want to, lets do it tonight, it's Friday and we don't have to be up early tomorrow for classes or drills.”

Keith remained silent and kept his head diligently within the pages of his reading material, but a tiny smile escaped his lips at Lances enthusiasm, and he knew that one quick glance at the gangly boys toothless smirk had already decided for him. 

Sue him, he really wanted to kiss that smirk off his face tonight. 

“Welllll… I'd liked to know how interesting a book must be for you to be looking at it in place of this handsome face, but I guess there are some mysteries that will never be solved,” with this, Lance got up and pushed his chair back under the table to lean his elbows atop the ridge of it, then slowly, as if he had all the time in the world, he brought his lips dangerously close to Keith's ear, “if you change your mind and think that staying in and reading all night isn't as appealing me, then, well, you'll know where I'll be.” then he sauntered off as if he knew exactly what he was doing to Keiths insides. 

After a few paces Lance threw a smouldering wink over his shoulder, and then turned out of the library with a smug smile, as if he was completely innocent. 

Keith had to take a few long breaths after that interaction.  
\---  
Keith felt like a weak, weak man, but one could only last so long before giving into the demands given by the one and only Lance McClain. It was 1:30 am, two and a half hours after curfew, but he was surprised he made it that long, to be honest. He didn't sleep a wink, to busy thinking about his own pale hands tangled into contrasting milky chocolate brown strands of hair, tanned skin, endless pools of shining blue eyes, and star-like freckles. Eventually he threw his sheets of his body and prepared for a night under the open skies.  
\--  
He efficiently snuck his way to Lances dorm after he crawled out of his own window under the cover of darkness. With three quick taps to the boys window he had come familiar with, he couldn't help but feel nervous, what if Lance didn't want to see him, what if he already left when Keith didn't show up earlier. His troubles were put to rest when a brown mop of hair could be seen through the murky blackness of night. 

“I was starting to think that you really were a nerd and decided to stay in bed reading all night.” 

“Shut up,” Keith said with a scoff, “I've read the book before anyways.” 

“Oh my god Keith, you are such a nerd, how are you so pretty and smart it's completely unfair.”

Keith felt his face flush at this, thanking whatever deities above that it was a dark enough night that Lance couldn't see. Then, without thinking he replied, “Says the sexy Cuban that got a full ride to the Garrison because he had a 4.4 GPA and a 100.8 percent in his AP astrophysics class.” 

“Yeah but you read for fun, that's like full on nerdness Kei---- wait, you think I'm sexy?” he exclaimed. 

“Shhhh, someones gonna hear you,” shushed Keith, “just get out here, we won't have time to actually sneak out if we stand here like romeo and juliet at your window all night.”

Lances eyes squinted at him, “Nice evasion tactics you dork, just let me grab my shoes real quick.” 

A few moments later, after a bout of silent cursing at the corner he stubbed his toe on in the dark, and the telltale shuffling of Lance grabbing his signature cargo jacket, his head popped out of his window, “A kiss for good luck?” he asked unabashedly.

“You can climb out of your window without the fates on your side.” 

Lance gave Keith the same smirk he had on his face earlier in the library, toothless and lopsided, freckles moving around his skin like they were each painted on with diligence and care, “See you say that, but what if I fell out of my 3 foot high window and died a tragic death, you wouldn't want to risk that, would you?” 

Keith reached his hands up and placed them onto the windowsill, he had to tilt his head up a bit to make eye contact with the other boy, “No, I guess I wouldn't want to risk that.” 

Their lips met softly and languidly, it was a kiss for good luck, after all. 

When they pulled apart, Keith looked into those shimmering blue eyes that were seemingly lit up even in the darkness. He let his eyes wander to the bridge of Lances tanned nose, splattered with freckles that appeared after years of living on the beach and being sun kissed summer after summer. He wanted to count the freckles in attempt to measure how many days Lance went out into the water and surfed the waves, or how many times he rode his bike around the blistering hot Cuban roads. He wanted to learn everything about Lances freckles and how they came to be. It was then he realized that just his freckles would never be enough, he wanted to learn every single thing about Lance, he wanted to learn and experience new things alongside him every step of the way, he wanted to be there when new freckles appeared on his face from flying spaceships near stars and supernovas. He loved Lance, not just his freckles, but every story behind those pigmented dots, he loved the entirety of the boy that was Lance McClain. 

Lance smiled, unknowing to Keiths recent epiphany, “Maybe another one, so I'm super lucky.” 

Keith complied, leaning into Lances mouth once again. 

~~~

Keith left. He told Lance that he had to leave, like if he didnt he would die, but Lance was right, Keith just wanted to leave.

Keith also wanted to stay, he wanted to stay with Lance and Hunk and keep being their friend. But fear got the best of him, fear won, he was so scared, so helpless, so he left. He left and left the ones he loved broken. And people are not supposed to break the things they love.  
\--  
Keith was miserable in the desert. It used to be a place where he and Lance would go to escape, but now thats all he could think about, Lance. Keith was miserable because he was completely alone and he had brought it upon himself. 

But he deserved to be miserable, because he broke Lance, and people are not supposed to break the things they love.  
\--  
Most days Keith forgot to eat, just wandered in and out of his shitty shack like a broken record player. Shuffle in, shuffle out, throw a rock into the endless searing heat with a yell, shuffle back indoors, repeat. 

At first he didn't know why he was in the desert, it wasn't going to get him any closer to Shiro, and it sure as hell was never going to help him fix things with Lance. But after time he felt the inexplicable draw towards the cave that he found the lion markings in. After entering the cave and running his hand across the carvings along the wall, he swore to himself that he would find Shiro alive. 

He also wanted to swear to himself that he would make things better with Lance, but people always told him when he was younger, ‘Don't make promises you can't keep.”  
The fact was, Keith left the Garrison and Lance behind when Shiro went missing because he was scared. For a tough boy that grew up in foster homes and knew how to pull punches that knocked out grown men, he sure did get scared pretty often. His initial excuse was that he was mad, that his anger fueled him to lash out towards Iverson, and that he saw red when Lance begged him to stay. None of that was true, of course, he wasn't angered, wasn't filled with mirth, he was just scared. 

Terrified. 

Terrified in the way that he fell for Lance so quickly, how he fit so easily into his life, like all the moving around when he was younger was so he could know what home felt like when he finally got there.

Terrified in the way that with Shiro gone, he had no one to laugh about the burnt spaghetti incident that occured one fateful night in Shiro's apartment kitchen. He had no one to talk to about his love for the cosmos, ranting on and on about how some stars can live for 10 billion years and turning to finding the older man next to him asleep on the couch, slightly drooling onto the throw pillow haphazardly shoved under his head. No one to confess to about how he liked boys, no one to accept him like Shiro had, unlike the boys at his foster homes that called him names and locked him in dark rooms.

He was scared, and that's why he left. Fled the scene so that when the ones he hurt and left behind looked down, they only saw their own tears pooling, not Keith's, because Keith never cries in front of anyone, it was his one rule in life. Never let them see you hurting. 

~~~

The day he saw the mystery ship land he knew Shiro had come back and was alive. He fled from his shack and hopped on his hovercraft to make his way towards the man that saved him from himself.  
\--  
“I’d recognize that Mullet anywhere!” 

Lance. Keith knew that voice by heart. He wanted to make amends, Shiro was alive, Lance was here, and Keith was going to attempt to fix the things he broke. 

People are not supposed to break the things they love, but sometimes accidents happen, and you have to do your best to put things back together. They usually will never look the same, pieces of shattered glass can go missing, but sometimes seeing broken things put back together make them even more special. If you break something you truly love you will find a way to put it back together. 

Up in the cosmos where both of the boys had always wanted to go, surrounded by mystical worlds, new and old friends, an ancient princess, galaxies at war, and outlandish creatures, Keith and Lance found a way to piece themselves back together. 

~~~

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! i hope you enjoyed, i definitely had fun writing it.  
> this fic is named after the alt-j song every other freckle, i just love that song and lance with freckles is one of my favorite things.  
> also in the fic lance mentions recreating a taylor swift song. He talking about her song hey steven, when she says  
> "of all the girls tossing rocks at your window, ill be the one standing there even when its cold."  
> anyway thats all and again thank you for reading.  
> let me know what you thought about it in the comments!  
> byebye,  
> napenthusiast


End file.
